Rock Critic and Journalism Professor Don McLeese Reveals his 'Slippery Steps' Towards Sobriety

Former Chicago Sun-Times and Austin American-Statesman music critic and now journalism professor, Don McLeese, joins us to discuss his riveting new memoir, Slippery Steps: Rolling and Tumbling Toward Sobriety. Published by Ice Cube Press, the memoir delves into McLeese’s alcohol dependence, his denial regarding his substance abuse, and how Alcoholics Anonymous eventually helped him down his road to recovery. “Yeah, I drank daily. I was drinking progressively more. I was drinking in what now seems to me a really unhealthy fashion. I was drinking more. I was drinking alone. I was in my room. I was hiding it. I had gone from being a social drinker to what I called an anti-social drinker and I was just, you know, numbing myself and so part of what I want to address in this book is how what we might consider normal drinking, whatever normal drinking is, how that can progress to something that is more problematic even if the person within whom it is progressing doesn’t consider it a problem at the time.” As McLeese’s drinking became more excessive, his health, surprisingly, remained intact. “I always thought that I was balancing whatever bad things I was doing to myself with good things I was doing for myself. I mean, I’ve always exercised, I’m productive, I work hard, so it was like, I’m doing all these things that are good for me. If I work hard, I should be able to play hard. There wasn’t much of a sense of play towards the end of my drinking.” Additionally, the image he had of himself didn’t seem to fit with what he thought most alcoholics were like. He didn’t have the shakes, nor did he feel the urge to drink early in the day as many do. “I never drank, or rarely drank, until dinner and afterwards, but then once I’d started, you know, I just didn’t stop.”

For McLeese, Alcoholics Anonymous was incredibly instrumental in helping him through his recovery process. Part of the reason he told his story was for others going through the same issues to know what to expect when participating in the program. “It’s just more a helping hand and empathy… Within AA, you were encouraged to not judge people by how they dressed, how they talked, what they’d been through, you know, to recognize that we’re all there because we had some sort of drinking problem, some sort of living problem, and the connection we make as part of the human condition… that we’re looking for something outside of ourselves to complete ourselves, to make ourselves whole, and just the sharing… I think that until one goes to AA, it’s anonymous, you’re not supposed to talk about it. It’s a secret society or somewhat and so most people don’t really know anything more about it than what I knew… this is kind of my way of taking somebody who was in the same position that I was and saying, ‘It’s ok, let me bring [you] in. Let me show you what it’s like. You can decide for yourself whether you want to hang around or not. Nobody is going to make you do anything or say anything or believe anything or whatever, but you might find some answers here. I did.'”